Studying the latest version of Colin's design on one of his larger monitors, Dragon nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that's better, I believe. It seems to meet all the relevant design goals and removes some of the unneeded complexity of the previous iteration." She watched as he manipulated the haptic controller to spin the 3D model of his bike on the screen, both of them looking for problems.
"The flywheel unit placement here would seem to be optimal," he commented, highlighting one component with the mouse in his other hand. "It brings the center of gravity of the vehicle to the correct place, and frees up this space here for storage or consumables. The replacement of the original power source with the FamTech unit makes a significant difference to the overall weight and bulk, not to mention dramatically increases the available power."
"Using their novel superconductor lets us reduce the size of the cabling everywhere and simultaneously increase the current handling capacity enormously," she noted. He nodded, looking pleased.
"Indeed. And using it in the hub motors drastically improves the torque, which in addition to EDM bearing surfaces and rotating components gives a motor that is near the theoretical limits of efficiency. EDM construction of the main structural elements also lowers the mass by a vast amount even as it increases the strength of the whole design to implausibly high levels."
She chuckled a little. "This thing will be capable of some absolutely insane acceleration and top speed," she said with a smile in her voice. "And it'll be almost indestructible. The tires are the main weak point now. Although… possibly an EDM mesh reinforcement under the surface?"
He glanced at her, then looked back at the reworked version of his signature motorcycle, which was almost totally redesigned. "Yes, that could be worth pursuing," he said after a few seconds of thought. "Bearing in mind that EDM is entirely rigid, it would need to be a two dimensional chain structure to have the flexibility required, but we've seen from Saurial's production of nets and similar equipment that it's possible. I wonder if Vectura has any formulations for an improved resilient material to replace the high temperature synthetics we used for the original tires..."
Dragon shrugged a small amount. "I wouldn't be surprised, I have to admit. We can ask."
He made a note on the pad by his right hand, then went back to inspecting the CAD model. "I'm still trying to optimize the placement of the weapon systems and the auto-drive module, but that's a fairly straightforward iterative process at this point," he said after a little longer. "I can't see any major problems with the rest of the design. It's a huge improvement over the current model and solves almost every outstanding problem I've encountered to date."
"Saurial said they'd be happy to talk about making the parts for this when you're ready," Dragon told him, thinking back to the day before and what they'd discussed after the more private parts of her visit had resulting in things that were still sinking in even now. "I didn't actually spend all that much time talking about it, though, since a number of other subjects somewhat took priority. But they left it open for future cooperation. She told me that they had a higher-output version of the flywheel unit already to hand and could supply them to us for this sort of thing without any problem."
"Excellent, that will make this whole design feasible," he remarked with a small smile. "Once I have it fully completed, I'll produce the relevant plans and contact them to arrange a time to discuss it properly. Considering how fast they can make high precision parts, I expect it's no more than an afternoon's work to produce the entire mechanical and electrical component sets. It will take longer than that to construct the electronic subassemblies by some margin."
"You're going to have fun with your new bike," she said slyly. Colin glanced at her again, then back at the monitor, before nodding somewhat eagerly for him.
"I believe the field trials will be very rewarding indeed," he replied. Which for him was akin to most people grinning widely and looking excited, she thought with an inner smile.
"You'll have to do the same thing for your armor," Dragon told her friend. "I intend to do that myself. At least for the outer skin and the main structural components. I'm very interested to see how EDM parts will integrate into my current designs, and that superconductor material…" She paused, then shook her head in wonder. "That opens up so many possibilities I'm still stunned."
"I have already begun the preliminary work on that project, yes," he said, closing the file and turning his chair to face her. "The bike is the simpler one in many respects, so it was the obvious place to start. My suit is, as you know, far more miniaturized and integrated, so it will require a lot of very careful thought to work out just how to go about upgrading it. The thermal superconductor aspect of EDM is slightly problematic in some respects as it lowers the insulating ability of the current armor towards opponents like Lung, as an example, which is something that needs to be addressed."
"My insulator material would fix that problem," she assured him. "I know that Saurial has used it in the costumes that she's made for New Wave and Vectura, for exactly that reason. EDM is amazing stuff, and unbelievably useful, but unless you're a member of the Family that one property of it is as much a weak point as a benefit in some cases. The insulator is a solution which seems to work."
He looked thoughtful. "I wonder if it would be feasible to use the Family fractal dimensional techniques to allow a substantial thickness of thermal insulation to fit into a physically smaller space than it would normally occupy," he mused out loud. "If it's possible that would seem a very efficient method to make a suit that is capable of extreme thermal resistance while still having low mass and volume."
Dragon considered the idea, nodding a little. "It sounds like it's something they could do easily enough, based on what we've seen so far," she agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out they've already thought of that, to be honest. It might even be something they're actually doing."
He made another note on his pad. "I will ask when I contact them." Turning back to her, he went on, "I'm also going to inquire about new costumes for all Protectorate and Wards here in the city. I've considered many of the current ones insufficient for some time, and Saurial herself also brought it up when we were discussing the solution she and her family came up with for New Wave. Seeing the body armor Miss Wilbourn demonstrated so effectively makes me think it's time to resolve that issue."
"Sounds like a good idea," she nodded. "Do you think the Director will have any problems with it?"
"I doubt it," he replied with a shake of his head. "I did mention the idea some time ago and she wasn't averse to it if the budget would allow it, and the cost structure we were given on Friday shows that they are more than reasonable in their prices. That was the only real potential stumbling block, I think. Whether the PRT as a whole will adopt the same approach I couldn't say, but Director Piggot is on the whole pragmatic and rational and no more wishes to see our people hurt than you or I do. Despite her… somewhat biased outlook on Parahumans."
"Which does seem to be slowly becoming less of a problem," she noted wryly.
"Yes," he nodded, frowning a little. "It's intriguing but welcome. Contact with the Family has apparently produced yet another beneficial side effect although I am at a loss as to exactly why." He shrugged. "Regardless, it's welcome, and will only increase overall effectiveness, I think."
"Most likely," Dragon agreed. "The entire organization here in the Bay does seem to be working much more smoothly in a number of ways in the last couple of months, even with all the oddities that have happened. Removing Coil from the equation probably helped with that, of course, but I can't help thinking that those lizards are having an effect even past that."
Colin almost smiled at her words. "That does seem to be the common theme in most of the recent changes to the city. While I find much of it so far difficult to explain, I can't deny I prefer the current state of affairs to what they were previously. Even with the confusion of the last few weeks, I think it's ultimately going to give me more time to work uninterrupted."
She laughed fondly. "And give many other people jobs and hope for the future, due to the reduction in crime, the revitalization of the city, and all the other things that happen outside your lab."
"Of course," he replied, looking a little surprised that she needed to mention it. Clearly he felt that went without saying, something that amused her. He was, as she'd discussed with Saurial and her relatives, not good with people at all on the whole, but he did have his moments of insight.
He proved that a moment later. Looking at her in a somewhat odd manner, he asked quite tentatively, "Dragon? If you don't mind me asking… Are you all right?"
She stared at him for a few seconds, quite surprised. "What do you mean?"
Her companion appeared to be searching for the right words based on his expression, which was one of mild concern and somewhat puzzled. "I'm not entirely certain why but since you returned from your visit to BBFO, you appear to be… quieter than usual. It's hard to explain but some of your responses appear slightly off. Possibly I'm imagining it, I would be the first to admit I am not particularly good at discerning the social cues most people appear adept at, but we've been working closely together for some weeks now and there does seem to be a minor change in the last day. I believe that under such circumstances it's appropriate to express interest as to the cause when it involves a valued friend."
He paused, then added with a small amount of visible worry and possibly what in most people would be embarrassment, "Forgive me if I've misread the situation."
Dragon watched his face and read his various biological tells through her instrumentation, feeling a lot of fondness for the man in front of her. He really did care in his own, unique, way. And this was very close to the most normal response she'd ever seen out of him.
Even he seemed to be changing, if only slightly, as a result of whatever it was that was going on, she thought to herself.
Lizards were very weird, but apparently very powerful in their effects…
"I'm fine, Colin," she replied with as much good humor and gratitude in her voice as she could manage. "Thank you for noticing, and asking. My visit didn't quite go the way I was expecting but it worked out even better than I'd hoped it would, and they did me a great favor, just by being them. I can't really talk more about it right now, but when I can, I promise you'll be the first to know." She put her armored hand on his arm, very lightly, and added, "Thank you for being a friend."
"You're welcome," he replied with a still mildly confused but pleased look. "Your well-being is something I hold as important as my own."
They looked at each other for a moment more, then went back to work. Dragon was feeling that things were in all sorts of ways looking up, and it boded well for the future and the talk she was sooner or later going to have with him.
Tapping her lips with the end of her pen, Vicky sat on her bed leaning against the headboard and studied the notes she'd written. After a two hour conversation with Dean, which resulted in plans for a date on Tuesday, and then trying on most of her new clothes, she'd finally given in to what was becoming a somewhat odd hobby of late and resumed puzzling about the whole 'Taylor Hebert vis à vis Family' thing. As much as she'd like to just push it to one side and not think about it, she simply couldn't.
And that fucking pair of jeans of Amy's was still driving her nuts.
She got a headache every time she thought too hard about the here-one-moment, gone-the-next tail sleeve, but she was completely convinced she'd actually seen the thing.
Most of the time.
The rest of it she was seriously wondering if there was something wrong with either her eyes, her mind, or both.
How could it just vanish? That was, even in a world full of Parahumans, definitely more than a little peculiar. And if it hadn't really been there to vanish, why the hell had she thought she'd seen it? Felt it, for that matter.
She didn't think she was subject to hallucinations, or just nuts, but the experience rather suggested that either something very strange was going on or she wasn't recognizing a problem she had. And she wasn't sure which was worse.
On the whole, probably the latter, she mused, nibbling the end of the pen. All things considered lizards doing weird shit, or possibly playing the most subtle practical joke on her she'd ever heard of, was preferable to thinking her own sanity was suspect.
'Around here, though, who could really tell?,' the blonde thought with a momentary wry amusement. 'Most people from outside the area probably think we're all crazy for sticking around with giant lizards wandering back and forth...'
The giant lizards were friends of hers, but every now and then she saw it from a sort of external viewpoint and simply couldn't figure out how the fuck things had gone so bizarre so fast. That was without bringing in her paranoid fantasies of the entire DWU being disguised creatures from the depths of time and the ocean.
She so hoped they were fantasies.
Shivering for a moment, she firmly thrust that particular idea back into the recesses of her mind where it couldn't bother her and nailed a lid on it. She knew full well that even in the current terms that Brockton Bay seemed to work under it was more than a little ridiculous. But it kept coming back, no matter how often she thought it through logically and tried to convince herself it was the result of too many internet conspiracies and old horror books.
The counter-argument to that, of course, is how well the whole thing fitted those books and internet theories. Again, logically, the obvious reason for that when you actually got to know the Family was that they thought it was hysterically funny to play on such things and make people get really confused, but every now and then in the middle of the night she couldn't help wondering if it was the other way around.
For now, though, she was going to leave the bigger picture alone if only for her mental well-being and concentrate on something closer to home, in other words her sister.
What the hell was up with that?
The Friday-afternoon session at Taylor's house had left her even more puzzled, although in some ways less worried. Seeing Saurial acting, yet again, like she'd lived in that house her entire life and knew the Heberts as well as her own family made some of her theories evaporate in a puff of logic, while giving a considerable boost to others. Every time she watched Danny interact with the lizard girl it reinforced the idea that she was far closer to him than would be expected if she'd only come on the scene in the last few months, as was generally considered to be the case.
Very clearly, to least at her, he'd known her for a long time. And Taylor was the same. The common mannerisms, accounting for different physiology, that had initially taken Vicky down this path were definitely there. The more she watched, the more she noticed. And the only way she could think of that such a situation could arise was if Taylor and Saurial had either grown up together or were in fact the same person.
Obviously the latter couldn't be true, since she and many other people saw both of them at the same time in the same place on a regular basis. And there were a lot of differences too, far more than there were similarities, which wasn't surprising considering they were two utterly different species. But, even so, the similarities were striking when you spotted them and started thinking about it. It would need a lot of contact with both in relaxed conditions but she had that.
So grew up together seemed the most likely of a whole series of very unlikely possibilities. The implications of that, when she thought about it, swiftly took her to weird places again, so she tried not to. Simply accepting it as a decent working theory and not thinking too hard about all the other things that it highlighted was probably for the best, she mused with another slight shiver.
Regardless of the real truth, which she might well never fully get to the bottom of, she was certain that both Taylor and Saurial were good people. All the lizards, in fact, were decent and sensible if somewhat trolly individuals, but she had the most contact with the smallest one since she was guarding Taylor at school and considered her a friend, even if at times she was also terrifying. The mere fact that she'd forgiven Vicky for being a total bitch to her like that was enough to make it clear she was calm and sensible to a level most people weren't. Luckily for Vicky, of course, since she didn't like to think of what could have happened otherwise.
So, if you took the idea that the Family were friends and allies, even if somewhat secretive, it seemed unlikely that they'd sneakily have replaced Amy with a disguised member of their own species. She had little doubt they probably could based on what she knew of them, they seemed to have all the powers and come up with bizarre new applications of them all the time, but she simply couldn't think of a reason why they would.
Taking that off the table, as her pages of scribblings eventually summed up to, what was left? There was that pair of jeans for a start. Vicky was sure she'd seen a very non-standard addition to the damn things, but it wasn't there only half an hour later. Had it ever been there? Was she just imagining it?
Flipping back a couple of pages she reread some of her conjectures, frowning slightly, then sighed and put the notebook down. Getting off the bed she went to the door and listened, just in case, then cautiously opened it. She could hear typing from her mother's office so that was where the older woman was, and after a moment also heard her father humming to himself in the kitchen, something that made her smile. If nothing else, she and Amy both owed Ianthe a huge favor for helping their dad like that.
Assured that no one was around, Amy presumably still being at the DWU where she spent most of her free time these days, she silently floated across the hall and opened her sister's bedroom door somewhat guiltily, then ducked inside and closed the door again behind her. Going to the closet she opened that door in turn, then knelt down and rummaged through the pile of clothes on the floor at the back where she'd stuffed those anomalous jeans when she'd returned them. Apparently Amy hadn't moved anything in the last few days since they were still there and quickly retrieved.
Carefully putting everything else back, she was shortly in her room with the door locked, the jeans spread out on her bed. A quick search in her desk later she had a magnifying glass in hand and was carefully inspecting the item of clothing from close range. Even after twenty minutes of examination, she failed to find any sign of something unusual.
They were just black stretch jeans in Amy's size. Nothing more, nothing less, at least as far as her eyes and fingers could tell her.
Shaking her head, she leaned back from where she'd been sitting cross-legged on the bed bent over them and sighed again. This was ridiculous. The only thing she'd managed to achieve was to end up with a blinding headache again, probably from staring at clothing through a magnifying glass while bent nearly double.
She snorted with annoyed laughter. Put like that it was crazy. And possibly she was as well. The blonde flopped back onto her duvet and dropped the magnifier on the carpet, then massaged her temples with her eyes closed, waiting for the pain to dissipate.
'What the hell am I doing?' she wondered to herself. 'I'm chasing something that probably isn't even there in the first place.'
But she'd seen it…
'Or did I? Maybe it was just my imagination. Amy seems entirely normal, she sure doesn't have a tail! Why would she have a tail? It's nuts! I'm certain that's my sister. I know Amy, I've known her since we were both six. She's my sister and nothing is going to change that. I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed a tail sometime in the last twelve years...' Giggling a little, she put her hands over her face and tried to think of something she was missing.
Taylor. Amy. Jeans. Tail sleeve. Lizards. No tail sleeve.
Eventually she groaned and rolled over, straightening her legs out and just lying there face down on the bed.
It was impossible. She had no fucking idea what was going on, or why, or how. Something was, she was sure of that much, but as to what it was… Not a clue.
With resignation she thought that when or if she ever did find out the truth she was probably going to be very annoyed about missing the obvious, but right now she was stumped.
Pulling the pillow over her head she screamed in frustration, very quietly, then decided she'd have a nap. Perhaps when she woke up she could come up with another idea she couldn't see right now.
And if she couldn't…
As she drifted off, she decided that it might be time to very carefully ask Amy some probing and insightful questions.
Very carefully.
Moments later she was snoring gently, and shortly after that she had some extremely weird dreams.
Again.
Feeling more than a little worried by the way Ianthe was examining him, even from the other side of the table, Newter wondered if he should start running now.
Looking at the violet lizard, then around the room and back to her relatives, he swallowed again. It was far too late…
"Don't look so worried, I won't eat you," Ianthe grinned.
That, oddly enough, wasn't entirely reassuring for some reason. Probably due to the teeth, of which there were a lot.
Seriously, like a lot, he thought uneasily to himself. Way more than anything really needed for most purposes. Purposes that weren't eating people at least.
Trying not to shiver, he asked, "What do you mean?" while hating the way his voice squeaked a little on the last word or two. Beside him Gregor seemed somewhat wary, while also more than a little amused.
"It's possible I might be able to help you with some of the downsides to your body," she explained. With a glance at Gregor, she added, "Both of you."
Newter stared, then looked at his colleague, who was also looking startled now. "What do you mean?"
"Like I said, I'm very good at bioshaping. The Family Bioshaper's guild has some extremely powerful abilities that we've developed pretty much for the existence of our species," Ianthe replied, her sister and cousins looking at her while she spoke with an air of agreement mixed with a certain amount of also finding it funny for some reason. Possibly due to having heard that before, he assumed. "As you might imagine we've got a lot of experience in that sort of thing by now."
"She's one of the best in the entire guild," Metis added with a small smirk, making her sister look at her and grin. "And won't shut up about it."
"Merely confident in my own abilities, sister," Ianthe chuckled. Returning her attention to Newter, she continued, "I can't guarantee anything without an examination of you, but it may be that we could work out some way for example to prevent your body fluids affecting anyone you touch without you wanting it. I can't help but think that risking knocking out even your own teammates if you happen to accidentally graze them is somewhat annoying, never mind random people."
"You mean you could turn me back into a normal person?" he asked, astounded. "Even Panacea can't revert a Case 53, I know that much."
"I'm better than Panacea is," she said with a smile. "But that's not quite what I meant. She's told me about her experiments and experiences and I'm fairly sure that reverting you to 'normal' isn't very easy at all. I can't say it's impossible but it seems likely it's linked heavily to your powers and without removing those too, even if I could I suspect you'd merely change back to your current form after a while. Which is what she's said happens with her too. I could probably make it last longer but at the moment I don't think I can really fix that aspect properly. It's something I'm going to investigate, though, especially in light of everything we've learned today."
"It would be damn near a miracle if you could work out a method to do that," Mel said, sounding amazed. "These guys are at the good end of Case 53 changes, believe me. Some poor bastards would probably sell their souls to only have a tail and be orange compared to what they actually got."
The large reptile nodded, looking momentarily very irritated. "I can believe that, and if I can work out how to do it, I will. We don't like this sort of thing, it reflects badly on the life arts. Like that idiot Nilbog, who I may have to do something about one day." She seemed peeved. "I do not approve of him at all. However, that's something to deal with some other time. Right now, I would like permission to examine you properly and see what we're really dealing with. Is that all right?"
He glanced at Mel and Gregor again. The large man was visibly thinking, but after a few seconds looked at him and nodded. Mel seemed somewhat cautious, even so shrugging eventually. "I have no objection, I suppose. It's Newter's decision. But I will be extremely upset if you hurt him." Her tone was warning, which made Newter feel pleased, although he knew the threat was likely an empty one. It wasn't likely that Mel could actually do anything to the Family if even some of the rumors about them were true, never mind if all of them were, after all.
Ianthe smiled, not looking offended or surprised. "I promise I won't hurt him, Faultline. We have no reason to for a start, and that's unlikely to change. We prefer to help out where we can after all. This is the sort of help I'm good at. These two, they make machines." She indicated Saurial and Raptaur who were listening quietly and with interest, apparently quite happy to let their cousin get on with it. "Me, I work with the squishy things. And I'm good at it." She turned her head to face Newter again. "If you're alright with that. It is, as Faultline says, your decision."
After some consideration he nodded slowly, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. "OK. What do I do?"
"Step into my office," Ianthe smiled, standing up and gesturing towards the smaller self-enclosed area on the other side of the large room. "Saurial, an examination table if you'd be so good?"
Her cousin laughed and hopped to her feet. "Sure," she replied, going into the room ahead of him for only a few seconds, then coming out again. "All done."
He peered in and saw an elaborate medical type of table with several mechanisms built in to allow it to tilt and swivel. Had she really just made it out of thin air in ten seconds flat? Looking at Saurial he saw her wink, then go back to her relatives, while Ianthe came over to stand behind him. "This won't hurt, honest. Just go in and get on the table, please. Take your shirt off too."
With trepidation he followed the instructions, hearing the door close behind him. Mere feet inside the room he stopped dead and looked around, shocked at seeing it was far, far larger than it should have been, something that Saurial's actions had distracted him from at first. Staring up at the high ceiling, then at the rest of the very large area, he finally turned to Ianthe, who was watching with a smile. "We have many talents," she said calmly, moving past him to the table. "And we're pretty good at solving weird problems." After a second, she snickered. "Some say we're good at causing them too, of course. But they're mainly just jealous."
He looked around again, then couldn't help laughing as well. "This is not how I expected today to go."
"You'd be surprised how many people say that the first time," she replied with a mischievous grin.
"Probably not, actually," he said, shaking his head in wonder. He pulled his shirt off and handed it to her, Ianthe putting it on a bench next to her that had all manner of weird things on it, none of which he could work out at all. Walking over to the table he got up on it, swiveled around, and lay down full length. "Be gentle with me," he pleaded, half-grinning.
The huge reptilian form of Ianthe smirked back. "Don't worry, you're not my type," she joked, then reached out and put her hands on his chest. "This may feel odd but it's harmless," she assured him. He watched wide-eyed as hundreds of little tendrils came out of her hands and dived through his skin like it was smoke, producing a strange but not painful tingling sensation for a second before it went numb.
Wondering what in god's name he'd let himself in for, he dropped his head back onto the padded and slightly raised head end of the table and tried to think happy thoughts.
Danny opened the front door and looked thoughtfully at his car for a little while. Then he closed it again, stared at it, and opened it once more.
Shaking his head in respectful wonder, he stepped through into his office, not feeling anything at all from covering several miles in one motion. "Those two are..." He couldn't think what to finish the muttered comment with, so just chuckled.
Turning around he looked back at his front hallway, before closing the door and quickly reopening it to see the DWU admin office. A few people were in there, including Zephron, who was talking to one of the clerical staff. The enormous man looked up at the sound of his door opening and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were in there, Boss. Thought you were coming in a little later."
"Don't call me boss. And I decided I might as well come in now," Danny grinned. "Hey, want to see something really bizarre?"
"Always." His old friend came over, entering the room as he stepped aside. The door closed and the remaining people in the office looked at it, then each other.
"Holy Mother of God, Danny! How the hell does that work?"
The shout of shock from inside made them stare.
After a while, they shrugged and got back to work. The DWU was used to weird by now.
Sophia swore violently, punched the steering wheel, gave the accelerator a bootful, and kept on driving.
A mile and a half back, a green truck came around the bend and trundled onwards...